Self-interest
Tomorrow is Thanksgiving 2006. Like all things, it has a complicated presence in the fabric of American life:
1. day of over-consumption (of food, material goods, television)
2. day related to the near-eradication of the native American population
3. day during which many people will go without festivities, special or abundant food, or any food at all
4. day of enjoying the presence of family and friends, showing appreciation for togetherness
And is not tomorrow meant to be a day of expressing love? In that spirit, I want to write a little bit more on the social and religious philosophy (see: Gospel for my earlier such post)
Henry Clark's Serenity, Courage, and Wisdom (Pilgrim Press, Cleveland, OH: 1994) talks about the conceptions, and the forces against the power, of agape - sacrificial love. His many thoughts on the matter are worth looking into, but the combination of a few quotes from Clark, including one on a major intellectual influence on Dr MLK Jr (Niebuhr), can provide a real basis for analysis on the issue:
#1: A synonym Niebuhr sometimes uses for justice is 'mutual love.' The purpose of the adjective is to warn against the error of assuming the perfectly disinterested love (agape, sacrificial love) can be consistently experienced or realized in human society. pg 99
So, my question is - why do humans talk of agape if it is not attainable? Or is agape possible for individuals but not society?
quote #2: To know both the law of love as the final standard and the law of self-love as a persistent force is to enable the Christian to have a foundation for a pragmatic ethic in which power and self-interest are used, beguiled, harnessed and deflected for the ultimate end of establishing the highest and most inclusive community of justice and order. pg 182
Above, love is the 'final standard,' meaning the ultimate objective for persons and societies. And yet 'self-love' is also a 'law.' Does that mean they are equal? Are love (spiritual or self-effacing) and self-love forever in opposition?
I think, at least in theory, there are ways of joining the two on a path towards peace, justice, and harmony. Self-love can be transformed into a desire to be great in terms of service such that the self-love results in mutual love or agape. Lastly about this one, I have not limited my definition of 'the law of love' to Christians.
#3: To know about the power of self-love but not to know that its power does not make it normative is to dispense with ethical standards and fall into cynicism. ph 101
Despite the skepticism for transformational Christian love, at least we hear that self-love is not an accepted fact but merely a way of dealing with current living ("self-love... its power does not make it normative").
I feel like I might be running away with this idea instead of really grapling with each theory. I hope to hear back from the crew about some detail or question herein.
Happy Thanksgiving.
2 comments:
I have a thought or two on your posts about love, though I am unfamiliar with your specific references. In particular, I do not see self-love and spiritual love as being in opposition. Moreover, I do not really see any types of love as being in opposition because the various categories of love (like all categories) are human-imposed structures on the world, i.e. do not exist in nature, but exist in our attempt to make the world rational/understandable. I am not completely sure I understand what you mean by spiritual love. But I think that self-love has become mischaracterized and denigrated in much Christian literature on love. Instead, I see self-love as integral to an affirmation of life. (I am thinking in particular about Nietzsche here and others who have taken up his call for refined self-love and joy.) To me, love of self, others, nature, life, and (perhaps) the divine/spiritual are all different aspects of the same thing. of course, people understand and express different types of love in different manners, and these manners may in fact oppose one another, but such inconsistencies arise more from an imperfect conception of love than from any opposition within love itself.
--Elizabeth Ramey email
Elizabeth,
I like that we can redefine love as something that encompasses more than simply self. Love, in the largest sense, denotes self-love and self-appreciation as much as it denotes love and appreciation of nature, people, and more.
Do you think, though, that conflict exists between humans' desire to do 'right' by the world (humane) as well as to do 'right' by themselves (selfish?)?
And what is the source of this conflict?
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